New Buys

 These are the three latest additions to my CD pile.  I bought all three the first time I actually saw them in a store which is unusual for me. Junko Onishi is a Japanese pianist who I remember liking when she recorded for Blue Note back in the 90's. She reportedly took a sabbatical for several years and suddenly without any fanfare or notice here she is with a new CD on Verve.
   Dave Liebman seems to have suddenly released a bevy of new work in the last couple of months and this Ornette Coleman tribute is the one that has been winding up on a bunch of "Best of 2010" lists.
   The Imani Winds record which I just read about a few days ago on the blog of Bad Plus pianist Ethan Iverson is a set of classical woodwind pieces written by composers best known for jazz: Wayne Shorter, Jason Moran and Paquito D'Rivera. Iverson really raved about Shorter's piece which is evidently the first classical writing he's ever done. Given that and the high profile Moran has had this past year I'm kind of surprised this work didn't get more attention.

Wayne Shorter

A bonadife Living Legend, Mr. Wayne Shorter with his quartet doing "Joy Rider".

Mr. Davis and Friends

I'm going to try to post a video once a day for a while to see if that can get me into the habit of doing regular posts. At least it will put some of my varied musical tastes out there. Here is the great Miles Davis Quintet with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams doing their thing on "'Round Midnight" in 1967. I've seen a more dramatic version where Miles practically sucks all the air out of thr building on his solo before Shorter explodes with his, but this one is good too. Wayne is on fire and Tony Williams is just remarkable.